Different shapes change the taste at all?

[joetattoo]

Hi, All
I used the search tool, (handy little bugger. Helps a lot) but couldn't find this info. If I missed it, I apologize, and stand with head bowed and face all red.
For the sake of clarity, Would a RP Edge toro taste the same as the Robusto, etc, or does the shape change the flavor, draw and other characteristics?
I ask because of the wild disparity in consumer ratings from shape to shape with the same cigar. Unfortunately, I know from decades of reading pipe tobacco reviews, consumer guides can be useless sometimes, as many posting these things do not have an educated palate. (At least I know that mine is barely fair to middling). So, what do the experts say about it?
Thank you and best regards
Joe

[craig]

Not an expert.

Some manufacturers adjust the blend depending on ring to keep the same taste.

Some manufacturers use the exact same blend everywhere, which means a different taste.

Some manufacturers adjust the blend depending on ring to give even more of a different taste.

Not much help, I know.

In general, however, the narrower the ring, the greater the impact the wrapper has on the taste. (This applies to the binder as well, but usually (usually) the binder is a light leaf chosen for good burning over taste contribution.) Also, some wrappers have more of a contribution to taste than others.

In addition, for Cuban cigars:
- below a certain ring, there is (supposedly) never any ligero (I can't remember the ring, 40 or 42).
- beyond a certain length, the cigar is blended milder, for example, a Double Corona is going to be blended to be a milder cigar than a Robusto of the same ring. (Again, I can't remember the dividing point - somewhere around 6 - 7").

[CoventryCat86]

LOL @ Joe! Now my memory isn't as good as it used to be but I don't ever remember your question being asked before.

An Opus X Perfecxion #5 (4 7/8 x 40) is a whole lot stronger than a Double Corona (7 5/8 x 49).

On the other hand a Davidoff Gran Cru #1 tastes the same to me as the #2, the #3, the #4 and the #5. They are all the same ring just different lengths.

[cinda]

That was a great question! Is that your kitty?

[Roham]

LOL @ Joe! Now my memory isn't as good as it used to be but I don't ever remember your question being asked before.

I don't ever remember it being asked either, lol. And great answer Craig. Very logical and from my cigar experience spot on. (not an expert either)

[joetattoo]

Kitty? What kitty? Guess I should have shaved before I took that selfie. OK, you got me. I'm nowhere as good looking as that kitten. Actually, that picture is of a Persian kitten I wanted to buy after our 20 year old diabetic Maine Coon died, (150.00 a month in insulin and weekly vet visits for 8 years!) but the wife ain't havin' it. She's still in mourning and for the time being, we are catless.
I appreciate the honest answers I got here. To sum it up, IT DEPENDS, given the disparity between manufacturers and their vision of what their cigar should be is probably the short answer.
So, I have no choice but to smoke everything and decide for myself! No, no, don't thank me. It's a dirty, grueling job, but somebody has to do it, and I'm volunteering. However, if the weather doesn't break soon so that I can smoke on the deck, I may not live to complete my task. Although I scurry to the recesses of the basement to smoke, I'm starting to get those squinty eyes (you know the look I mean) from the wife, and I'm very careful about turning my back on her.
Best regards
Joe

[kevin7]

Great advice. I always get a corona size if I want a powerful smoke to be a kicker. Joya de Nicaragua Antano machitos (petite corona)are wicked strong but the churchills are not

[cinda]

Sorry to hear about your kitty. If you go to my blog here you will see that I too just lost my Maine coon cat of 13 years. I looked at cats too but gg said take you time or your end up with something that really doesn't fit just right for you. So I stopped looking and just keep crying over it I guess I am not ready. Unlike you for me he was low maintenance so there no doubt that I want the same breed. He followed be around like a dog. The worst times are coming home from work and him not being there to greet me. I been here since 2005 and honestly I do not think that question was ever asked so not to hijack the tread totally good question.

[joetattoo]

I really am terribly sorry for your loss. They truly are a special breed. Even after a year, I come home and expect to see him stretched out on the bed. They can have replacements, but they can never be replaced. When you're ready, you'll get another, and I expect many pictures!
Best regards
Joe

[CoventryCat86]

Did someone say "Maine Coon?"

Our all white Maine Coon died three years ago. We immediately replaced her with these three, LOL!:



The one on the left is Leonardo, he's deaf. The one in the middle is Lilyanna with the blue eyes, they are brother and sister born on my wife's birthday. The one on the right is their "3/4" sister as we say (same father, and their mothers were sisters) her name is Phillippa, born on my wife's late father's birthday. His name was Phil.

[badwhale]

That's a great picture!

[cinda]

Awwwwwwwwwww very pretty. But we all know you have great taste!

[Roham]

That's a crazy perfect photo CC! Must be photo shopped!!! Great looking cats.


I must say I'm done for awhile after my two 20 year old cats hit the hay....

[ggiese]

Here's Gizmo. I miss this little bugger. I'm not a huge cat person(read below for my reasons why) - but this little guy was exceptional.

We (not me, but those close to me) had to fill a void when Gizmo died an untimely death. Gizmo was a real sweetheart - and I greatly missed him. He was a very loving and wonderful cat. I'm of the mind you just can't replace one cat with another - it's impossible to recreate the personality. Unfortunately for me ('cause I apparently was the only one who saw it coming) it took three cats to figure out we could not replace Gizmo.

Cat 1 - Elizabeth ("Lizzie"). She's "special"... And I'm being kind... Lizzie was the offspring of a feral cat - adopted by a teenager who thought she was "cute". When the girl could no longer care for her (I believe it took about a week to realize it), my daughter took her in. Lizzie was initially nice and sweet - but is now completely neurotic... She does not like anyone except my wife - and has developed some very bizarre ritual of showing up in the bedroom at about 3 a.m. - meowing loudly and mumbling something that sounds like obscenities. She dances on my sleeping wife... Quite a strange sight.. And - she just loves to pee on just about everything that's not hung up or in a drawer (jackets, beds, clothes, towels... You name it). ...and if you leave the drawer open - it's fair game...). Every day it hear someone cursing Lizzie's name. And she absolutely LOVES to claw the furniture.

Cat 2 - when Lizzie started to slip into her bi-polar condition - my daughter adopted Faye from a local shelter. Faye is good, but not great. She's more friendly than Lizzie, but only likes people to pet her on her terms. And if you pet her too much, she will let you know by sinking teeth and digging in with her claws. And she has the most incredibly sharp nails (she, not unlike Lizzie, takes great pride in ripping apart the furniture). When I catch her digging her claws into the leather couch - I get the "....what?!? This is what cats do! Ain't it cute? Don't you just love me?!?" - and then she slowly saunters away...

Finally - Cat 3 - there's Roscoe. Roscoe was mommy's pick to replace Gizmo. He loves anyone and everyone - and he is fearless. I have to watch him like a hawk - he loves to explore everything. That sucker sees the dog go out - so apparently assumes he should go out too... He's a quiet one - sneaks around all the time. I'm scared to death to let him outside - the little shit is likely to explore himself right into a swift kick in his ass (he can be REALLY annoying). He had a love affair for a time with a stuffed tiger one of the grand kids had laying around. It was short lived because he ended up ripping the crap out of it (apparently he likes his sex rough, I guess). We tried hard to discourage the relationship, but you just know how teenagers are... He's since taken up dating two of my wife's blankets (he snatches them off the bed and drags them to the dark recesses of the hallway). It's a strange relationship - and absolutely grosses the wife out - but I think it's cute! I mean - c'mon - Roscoe was handpicked by momma - the least she can do is support her son's choices in soul mates...

So that's my eclectic crew. I'd love to take a picture of all three, but there ain't no way the three will ever hang out and look "cute". Ain't never gonna happen...

[CoventryCat86]

Sorry for getting your thread off-track Joe, that happens a lot around here.

I honestly don't really know other than what I told you about two lines of cigars I smoke fairly regularly.

Here are some other experiences I've had:

Añejos, which come in a variety of vitolas with ring gauges between 46 & 55 all taste the same to me.
Padron 1926 all taste the same to me regardless of their length or ring gauge, same with the 1964 Anniversarios.
The Davidoff Anniversario line only has three different vitolas, the #1, the #2 and the #3. The #1 is milder than the #2 which is mild to medium and the #3 is medium to full. They are all great cigars but they vary significantly in strength and Davidoff does this on purpose with this line. Davidoff's Millenniums to me all taste pretty much the same but my favorite in the line is the Lonsdale because it just plain seems to smoke better and taste better than the other vitolas. That could be purely psychological on my part.

A general rule is that a smaller ring gauge in a certain line of cigars will be stronger than a large ring in the same line (as I mentioned earlier about the Opus X) however that may not always be the rule. I have also experienced many other low to medium priced domestic cigars where no mater what length, shape, size, ring or vitola choice there are in a certain line, they all taste the same to me, the Toraño 1959 Exodus line comes to mind first in that regard same with the Hoyo De Monterrey Excaliburs.

[CoventryCat86]

That's a crazy perfect photo CC! Must be photo shopped!!! Great looking cats.


I must say I'm done for awhile after my two 20 year old cats hit the hay....

Yeah, the only time in their lives they ever stayed still at the same time for more than two seconds while they were awake. I'm no photographer by any means, I just got real lucky.

I sent it to the breeder in Ohio where we got the cats from and she asked permission if she could use it on her website since she knows how just about impossible it is to get decent pictures of cats, LOL! If you click that link, the daddy of our three cats is the one at the bottom of the page who has one blue eye and one gold eye "Kitty-Up's Trevor of Muse Coons."

[joetattoo]

Well, Cat, sorry about the loss of your Maine Coon, but I must say, the 3 musketeers are beautiful and look really sweet. I wasn't aware the breed came in white.
As far as the three angels of death, Lizzie, Faye and Roscoe are concerned, it makes me want to consider a gerbil! The wife had one named Dustin years ago that hated everyone but her and would bite, scratch and hiss his miserable way through life. On one of those animal planet shows, some expert stated that really bad behavior in cats usually happens when the kitten is taken from mom before the age of 3 months. Seems that those last 4 weeks is when the mother teaches the kids socialization skills, and without that, kitty grows up like Lizzie or Dustin- crazy cats!
Joe

[cinda]

Yeah, the only time in their lives they ever stayed still at the same time for more than two seconds while they were awake. I'm no photographer by any means, I just got real lucky.

I sent it to the breeder in Ohio where we got the cats from and she asked permission if she could use it on her website since she knows how just about impossible it is to get decent pictures of cats, LOL! If you click that link, the daddy of our three cats is the one at the bottom of the page who has one blue eye and one gold eye "Kitty-Up's Trevor of Muse Coons."

OMG CC that white cat she is holding is huge! I love Vienna" omg that cat got katatude. GG this is how I know I am not a cat crazy person. Lizzy needs a one way ride. honestly I'd tell the wife she escape out the door. when no one can find her you say Fisher cat must of got her.

[CoventryCat86]

OMG CC that white cat she is holding is huge! I love Vienna" omg that cat got katatude. GG this is how I know I am not a cat crazy person. Lizzy needs a one way ride. honestly I'd tell the wife she escape out the door. when no one can find her you say Fisher cat must of got her.

That white one on the home page is Trevor, the daddy of our three white Maine Coons, he's also deaf. He is huge, isn't he? Our Leo is only 12 pounds and he actually weighs less than his sister Lilly. They generally reach full, mature weight around four years old, he'll be three this July so he's still got a little time left to fill out.

Oh and "Gabby" on the same page as Vienna is Phillippa's mommy.

Here's Leo and Lilly's mommy, her name is Jasmine or "Jazzie":

[Roham]

Here's Gizmo. I miss this little bugger. I'm not a huge cat person(read below for my reasons why) - but this little guy was exceptional.

We (not me, but those close to me) had to fill a void when Gizmo died an untimely death. Gizmo was a real sweetheart - and I greatly missed him. He was a very loving and wonderful cat. I'm of the mind you just can't replace one cat with another - it's impossible to recreate the personality. Unfortunately for me ('cause I apparently was the only one who saw it coming) it took three cats to figure out we could not replace Gizmo.

Cat 1 - Elizabeth ("Lizzie"). She's "special"... And I'm being kind... Lizzie was the offspring of a feral cat - adopted by a teenager who thought she was "cute". When the girl could no longer care for her (I believe it took about a week to realize it), my daughter took her in. Lizzie was initially nice and sweet - but is now completely neurotic... She does not like anyone except my wife - and has developed some very bizarre ritual of showing up in the bedroom at about 3 a.m. - meowing loudly and mumbling something that sounds like obscenities. She dances on my sleeping wife... Quite a strange sight.. And - she just loves to pee on just about everything that's not hung up or in a drawer (jackets, beds, clothes, towels... You name it). ...and if you leave the drawer open - it's fair game...). Every day it hear someone cursing Lizzie's name. And she absolutely LOVES to claw the furniture.

Cat 2 - when Lizzie started to slip into her bi-polar condition - my daughter adopted Faye from a local shelter. Faye is good, but not great. She's more friendly than Lizzie, but only likes people to pet her on her terms. And if you pet her too much, she will let you know by sinking teeth and digging in with her claws. And she has the most incredibly sharp nails (she, not unlike Lizzie, takes great pride in ripping apart the furniture). When I catch her digging her claws into the leather couch - I get the "....what?!? This is what cats do! Ain't it cute? Don't you just love me?!?" - and then she slowly saunters away...

Finally - Cat 3 - there's Roscoe. Roscoe was mommy's pick to replace Gizmo. He loves anyone and everyone - and he is fearless. I have to watch him like a hawk - he loves to explore everything. That sucker sees the dog go out - so apparently assumes he should go out too... He's a quiet one - sneaks around all the time. I'm scared to death to let him outside - the little shit is likely to explore himself right into a swift kick in his ass (he can be REALLY annoying). He had a love affair for a time with a stuffed tiger one of the grand kids had laying around. It was short lived because he ended up ripping the crap out of it (apparently he likes his sex rough, I guess). We tried hard to discourage the relationship, but you just know how teenagers are... He's since taken up dating two of my wife's blankets (he snatches them off the bed and drags them to the dark recesses of the hallway). It's a strange relationship - and absolutely grosses the wife out - but I think it's cute! I mean - c'mon - Roscoe was handpicked by momma - the least she can do is support her son's choices in soul mates...

So that's my eclectic crew. I'd love to take a picture of all three, but there ain't no way the three will ever hang out and look "cute". Ain't never gonna happen...

Hahaha Wait till they're 20!!! Then you will be yearning for these days!! Great post, enjoyed the read.